23 April 2007 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

23 April 2007 Dearborn County Plan Commission Meeting Notes

Present: Mike Hall, Chairman, Patrick DeMaynadier, Ken Nelson, Robert Laws, Dennis Kraus, Jr., Ralph Thompson.
Absent: Tarry Feiss, Nick Held, and Mark Mitter

Also Present: Mark McCormack, Planning Director, Kate Rademacher, Enforcement Officer, and Mike Ionna, Assistant Planner shared with West Harrison and St. Leon, and Arnie McGill, Attorney.

Two rows of developers were present as was John Watson- St. Leon’s attorney who was with Tucker. Watson did not speak at the meeting.

Old Business Scheduled to be Reopened:

Zone change to R from Ag for White Farm Development on 56 acres on North Dearborn/Short/and Gaynor Ridge Roads in Logan Township with Bayer Becker and Tucker/Schmidt. Jeff Tucker presented the plan with NO CHANGES. He stated they looked over it thoroughly and could find no way to cut the density. This item was tabled at the Feb. meeting for up to 90 days.
Mr. Laws was not present at the Feb meeting. [NOTE: This item was reduced to only discussing the density issues and so Laws was only familiar with the case from his packet of material. Considering the later voting sequence and discussion on this matter, it might be questionable as to whether Laws should have participated in this abbreviated version of this case.]

The staff report continuously mentions getting written commitments on this development for maximum density, roadway improvements, and for an established timeline for these to occur. [NOTE: Considering the result of this case and the fact that commissioners CANNOT put commitments on this, it would be irresponsible to allow this zone change without those commitments. It – in effect- allows the zone change to go in as a pure residential zone, which can have ANY density. In light of the character of the area and the safety issues on roads, two of the main criteria for a zone change will NOT have been met because of the lack of WRITTEN COMMITMENTS. Board members even question 2 of the 5 criteria.]

PUBLIC COMMENT: (Hall limited them to about 2 minutes each and density related issues only)

Glenn Crocker- Trees and bunkers won’t hide this development- it sticks out as different from EVERYTHING around it- even the next most dense development, which is tucked down over the hill. Most board members when polled last time wanted ¾ or higher lot sizes. Crocker showed the entire area again and all the low density surrounding this farm. [NOTE: Even staff pictures done all around the area show green fields and trees everywhere. There are hardly any homes visible.]

Glen Richardson- This is double the density of even the developed area across the road. Growth is good for the community BUT would rather see 1/acre maximum.

Karen Schaffer Geiss- lives at Short and Gaynor and has cattle- he farm is a combination of two parcels and is AG land and AG use. This is a project to them and a project to you, but it’s where I LIVE.

Tom Gaynor- Sons and I live here and operate a livestock farm. We’ve been here for 147 years. Just because sewer runs by does not mean it has to be high density. Class sizes in school system are increasing with 33 in 3rd grade class- kids will get left behind. Safety is affected with all the additional traffic too. Please consider all these issues.

Steve Kuhn- lived here my whole life- this is far too many houses. Every rooftop will show. Invited the PC members to come out and see this. The area is heavily farmed. There are tractors and combines on the roads. Even with Short Road improvements there will be safety issues.

Robert Gaynor- school tax rates are the highest in the area. There are 7 farms on Gaynor with livestock. Gaynor Ridge Road has blind spots and curves. Mostly Cincinnati people move here and they do not understand farm and rural life. Comp plan meetings showed that most residents do NOT favor high density. There are scars still on the land from the sewer installations 10 years ago. When Tucker purchased the farm it was zoned Ag. He also noted that only trees that will grow in the buffering areas would be bald cypress or something similar due to excessive moisture.

Todd Schumate- You need to look for SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT! High density with $200K homes are a burden to the taxpayers. AT some point they can break even- maybe at $300K. He agrees with all the previous statements on density and asked why Harley Springs- the densest in the area is being used as a BENCHMARK for this case. Lastly- We know that this will benefit the developer, but what good or what benefit does this development provide for the community?

Public Comment closed and Tucker added that Morgan’s Ridge- ½ mile away is comparable to this density and is as far away as some of the farms. One of the Gaynors stood up to ask that be corrected. Hall said- he knew where there farm was.

Board comments:

Thompson- has driven the area and this does not appear to be in character with the area. In a prior commissioners meeting INDOT indicated that the North Dearborn Road project with the $1 placeholder was not funded and probably wouldn’t occur for at least 5 years.

Laws- have driven this and it looks like it’s ready for development- all the infrastructure is there. [NOTE: Laws was not present for the original complete presentation of this project nor the road discussions. Have the meeting minutes even been approved?]

Kraus, Jr.- I lean more towards ¾ or greater lot size in that area.

Nelson- It’s dangerous to say we need $300K homes- a considerable number of the people here don’t live in homes that expensive. I was in favor of this and still am. It has good development standards. They have made an attempt to improve the roads and kept the others internal to the development.

DeMaynadier- It’s too dense and close to 2 x the density of Harley Springs. Majority of the area is low to moderate density or AG. Look at the cumulative effect of the other applications lately. He wants 1 acre or more max.

Thompson motioned to give an unfavorable recommendation based on the fact that the density was not in character with the area and the potential traffic safety problems on North Dearborn and Gaynor Ridge.
Demaynadier 2nd. 3 ayes, 2 Nays (Laws and Nelson) FAILED

Laws motioned and Nelson 2nd to give a favorable recommendation with NO REASONS AND THEY ALSO LISTED NO WRITTEN COMMMITMENTS! 2 Ayes and 3 NAYS (Thompson, Kraus, Jr, and DeMaynadier) Failed.

[NOTE: If these 2 were serious about passing this- they should have modified their motions to include the commitments on density and road improvements. They also gave no evidence that they had considered the 5 criteria for a zone change in this motion. It was SLOPPY. A good lawyer would have a field day with this one.]


The project goes to the commissioners at the May 1st meeting with NO RECOMMENDATION.

New Business:

Primary plat approval for 5- lot Ag zoned subdivision Section 3 of Lawrenceville Farms with Mike Hall and Owner William Geisel on 60.973 acres in Jackson Township. 5 lots are buildable and 2 are not.

Hall stepped down and his wife presented the case except for some drainage explanations that Mike did.

Laws said his daughter is an adjoiner, but that it wouldn’t affect his decision- he stayed on board. (It couldn’t have been heard if he left as they needed 5 for a quorum).

DeMaynadier acted as Chairman for this case.

Thompson asked where the common perimeter drains ended up. Teri Hall explained the drainage and depth of drains. She also said one unbuildable lot would attach to Geisel’s land. Doug Baer had been out several times and noted the wetlands with no construction on Lot 28.
With the elevations it was pointed out that 2 houses drain to Lenmary and 3 go east of that. Septics are mound systems with perimeter drains keeping the water lower than the mounds.

One neighbor- Bill Wilkymacky presented with the main concern being to keep any more water from draining to him and also to maybe correct some problems already there. He passed out pictures and suggested a park in the wetlands area. He told the board that the Tribble land across from this has rivulets through it from water drainage issues also. Mosquito larvae issues. He didn’t care if they built a moat around him- he just wants it drained.

DeMaynadier asked if the homes could be positioned so they all drained to the other side.
Thompson had drainage issues but thought the size was in character.
Laws had no problem.
KrausJr said it passed the ordinances.
Nelson- asked if there was public drainage as in a board. Answer was that there was no ability to halt or make corrections if there were problems- as there was no board in charge.
DeMaynadier said he drives past this daily and Wilkymacky is not exaggerating about the rain and water. He’d rather see more built to the NE and leave the SW unbuildable.

Geisel said the corps of engineers was out there- can’t drain the wetlands. He has big lots to be aesthetic and also to have areas to drain this. Two roofs on 20 acres can’t do that much.
The board and Geisel redesigned the plan to get just 1 home in SW area and 4 to NE.
Nelson motioned to approve with that configuration to get only 1 home SW and 4 NE with drainage to flow east of fall line and east of sewer sites. Thompson 2nd. All ayes. Passed.

The changes to the Zoning Ordinance were further modified and passed to take back to the commissioners for a 2nd attempt at passage. This section is mostly clarification of expectations for development applications that the developers needed so they could prepare adequately.

Hall noted that he wanted the PUD’s to be looked at also- he doesn’t want another case like Macke’s on Sugar Ridge.

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Master Plan Land Use Advisory Meeting is Wed May 9th at 7 PM for another vote on the revised map options.

There will be more ordinance revisions on collectors and roadways with the surveyor and highway dept.

US 50 INDOT presentation and study will have meeting Monday April 30th at LHS Auditorium from 6-8 PM.

Mike Ionna was introduced as the newest county planner to the board.

St. Leon is looking at 2 mile buffer- if they do it it requires 2 reps from the buffer area and a nonvoting PC rep from county to be on their Plan Board at St. Leon.

SR1 future road improvement lists were discussed and included some actual CLOSING of SR1 by Georgetown and by Salt Fork bridge. [NOTE: PNS ski area would be directly impacted by this. Emergency access to the hospital would also- in addition to the incredible inconvenience to the public.]

Meeting adjourned 9:35 PM

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township